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Thread: Life at Lake X in the '60s
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02-19-2005, 04:54 PM #91
Flat Out - I can almost hear Jim Harkins yelling at that guy. Jim had a loud voice and laugh. I worked in the boat shop at Lake X with him for quite a while. When I left, I sold him all of my tools. I bet he still has some wrenches with "SNS" etched on them. Once, in the middle of the night, Chet Strickland woke my brother up yelling about something outside. Bill looked out the window at the old boat slip to see a boat burning furiously at the fuel docks. Jim Harkins had been fueling the boat and a spark ignited the fumes. As I remember the story, Jim rolled out of the boat into the water. Somebody threw a line into the burning boat and towed it out into the lake with the rescue boat where it burned completely. Meanwhile the fuel nozzle lay on the dock spewing burning fuel. It was a scene out of a horror movie. Jim had been seriously burned in the process and bore the scars thereafter. In those days the concerns about alot of hazardous chemicals were not well known and we always washed our hands with acetone after working with fiberglass and resin. Sometimes we would mix a really hot batch (lots of hardener) and it would smoke in the can as it set up. We goofed off alot and had alot of fun, but I also learned alot from him. I din't remember where it was, but I saw Dave Martin somewhere within the last couple of years. I remember him mainly from the Siesta Key test station. He was tall and thin and he always had this big smile on his face.
Gene Wagner was my 1st boss when I first went to work for Kiekhaefer at Siesta Key. He was incredibly meticulous at his work and even ran in a couple of races. He was a nice guy to work for and was very patient with me when I did dumb things. Read one of my early posts about running over Pete Brogan. Gene never drank alcohol. Seems that when he was in the Air Force, he tried it at the club one night and it really hit him hard. He stepped outside and passed out into a snow bank. Fortunately somebody found him before he froze to death. From that day on he never drank again. Milt Roeber ran the "Boathouse Bulletin" shop at Siesta Key and it was always a fun day when we had photo shoots. Manufacturers would send us their boats and we would rig them with different engines to determine the best configurations. Then a few luscious models would come in to ride around with us all day while the photo boat ran next to us. Gene usually drove the photo boat which had a tower on it for the photographer (can't remember his name). A brochure would then be published with specs and photos. Milt got several of us into conversation one day with the guy that was the original owner of Wellcraft. I think his name was Bill Davis. I will tell that story later, but it involved recovering Pirate treasure from the Boca Grande area. -Steve
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02-19-2005, 05:12 PM #925000 RPM
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jim harkins, dave martin, gene wagner
I'm one of the Mercury Northerners that would show up at Placida from time to time, first time was around 1980 I think - I was doing large outboard product testing. Later in life I lived in Englewood a couple years and utilized the Placida base for various boat builder functions.
Best thing about Jim Harkins was the pictures in the top of his toolbox - but seriously, that guy would give you the shirt off his back - 'course you'd have to beg for it and promise him your first born child! And yes, it was a treat to listen to Jim talk about the Lake X days.
Dave Martin still lives in Sarasota, Gene W. has moved back to the Goshen Indiana area - I saw him a couple years ago while working in the South Bend area.
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02-19-2005, 06:11 PM #93Member
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Bernie,
I will not give out my name (swarn to secrecy on the board), but my father was Dave Martin's partner in crime and the photographer up until a few years ago until he was let go with Dave. I to remeber all of the boat house reports and being able to ride in some of the new boats. Yeah, There was a guy that worked at Placida with us that complained to HR about those pictures on the tool box. Then Jim was told to remove them and chit it the fan. That guy left after a few months. Everybody gave him a hard time and he quit.The Last One Across The Lake Has A Small Johnson
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02-20-2005, 08:03 PM #94
This site and the recent threads have become the best thing on the Internet..... Thanks to Steve and all the other people who still "bleed Mercury Black"....
T2x
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02-20-2005, 09:42 PM #95
Avast Mateys...Get Rich Quick
It was probably 1962 or 1963 when Milt Roeber, who ran the Boat House Bulletin department at Siesta Key, asked me if I would like to take a boat to Key West over the weekend to run a local race. I said sure, and 2 days later I was on my way South in the Keys towing a black Wellcraft with twin Mercs. Just past Marathon I get pulled by the Border Patrol. The guy asks me where I'm going. Seems that my boat looks suspicious. Apparently there were some folks running guns to Cuba in the darkness of night. In fact I had heard of someone doing exactly that and getting shot at in the process. Anyway, they let go on. At race time there were no other entries in my class so they bumped me up a class to run against a guy with twin Sportmaster units. I don't remember anything about the results, but it was fun......Later, back at Siesta Key, Milt wanted several of us (Me, Pete Brogan, Chet Strickland, and maybe Bob Eider) to stop at Happyland for a few drinks after work and to talk with Bill Davis(?). I think that was his name (Maybe someone can help me with Wellcraft history)...anyway, he was the owner of this small boat manufacturer named Wellcraft that operated out of a couple of quonset huts at Sarasota-Bradenton Airport. After a couple of beers he made a proposition to us. He needed several boat drivers that were familiar with the Boca Grande, which is actually know as Charlotte Harbor. The area is rife with hundreds of small islands and canals. We occassionally ran that far South on endurance and would run all through those canals and backwaters. Of course Gene Wagner did not know that we did that. We went lots of places that would have scared the hell out of him. And we always went there at full speed. Davis told us that he had located a lost pirate treasure buried in the area and needed help getting it out. The problem was that the Feds suspected him and were watching the site closely. He said that there were also others watching that would try to snatch the goods as soon as he uncovered it. There could be gunplay involved. He said that he had dug down some distance, had shored up the sides of the dig and only had a very short dig to pull the gold out. The plan was for us to ease into the site under cover of darkness just as he broke through, load the gold into several boats that would haul it to waiting trucks at several dispersed locations. Everything had to happen at lightning fast speed. Of course we would all be paid handsomely. As his proposition unfolded all I could think about was, "This guy is an absolute nut!". First of all, I didn't believe his story for a second; and second of all, I could see my payment being a bullet in the back of the head. He told us to think it over and he would see us later. I pretended that I had too many beers (actually I had) and didn't understand what he was talking about. Later, we (without Davis) all talked about it and decided that the guy was crazy and I never heard anything more about it. If anybody believed it....it would have been Milt Roeber. He was a little strange. He always reminded me of a blonde headed squirrel. I understand that a couple of years latter he was found dead in his mobile home. -Steve
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02-20-2005, 10:09 PM #96Originally Posted by seeroy22' Activator w/ 250xs Merc Opti, back home again
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02-21-2005, 12:34 AM #976000 RPM
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02-22-2005, 09:31 AM #98
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse
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02-22-2005, 09:36 AM #99
What is that sound!
Some people just don't appreciate the sweet sound of stackers!
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02-22-2005, 09:49 AM #100
Kiekhaefer's Navy
Lake X Photo Shoot prior to 1st (1967?) Bahamas 500.
#48- Johnny Bakos, #47-Bill Sirois&Ed Leslie, #43- Wayne Vickers&Me, Maritime-Odell Lewis&Mel Riggs. Chet Strickland ran a single outboard one year. I'm not sure if it was 1967, but if so, then #40 is him. Dammit, I wish I could remember who was in the other boats. No doubt Roy Ridgell, John Stenbeck were in this picture. Whoever I have forgotten...Please forgive me... -Steve
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02-22-2005, 09:50 AM #101
Gene Wagner
#41 might be Gene Wagner and Dale Thayer- -Steve
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02-22-2005, 07:47 PM #102
Press Conference
Joe Swift & Mr Kiekhaefer
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02-22-2005, 07:50 PM #103
Press Conference
Pic #1 - Don Pruett, Bill Sirois, Odell Lewis
Pic #2 - Odell Lewis, Joe Swift, Don Aronow
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02-22-2005, 07:53 PM #104Member
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Gene Wagners boat was named the Milk Shake wasn't it?
The Last One Across The Lake Has A Small Johnson
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02-22-2005, 08:08 PM #105
Flat out - That certainly would have been appropriate -Steve